The Daily Start-Up: Norwest Gains Lead Spot in Act-On Software’s $16M Series D

When Norwest Venture Partners was shut out of a Series C financing round raised by Act-On Software last year, the venture firm didn’t take it personally. Norwest kept sending customers and prospects to Act-On, a developer of cloud-based marketing software aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. It paid off for Norwest, which has led a new $16 million Series D round at a valuation of around $150 million. All current investors–Trinity Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners and Voyager Capital–participated.

Bigcommerce wants to be huge. The do-it-yourself e-commerce platform for small and medium businesses scooped up $20 million in venture funding at a valuation north of $150 million–cash it will use to ramp its army of sales and marketing pros and continue building a mobile offering before its competitors do. General Catalyst Partners led the recent round with participation from new strategic investor Mike Maples of Floodgate.

Also in today’s VentureWire, Noesis Energy is a new “cleanweb” start-up shaking up building management by giving away free data about energy use in buildings. The company has launched with a new set of online tools for managers of buildings and $14.5 million in venture funds, including a $6.5 million Series A round last year from Austin Ventures and $8 million in Series B financing this summer from Austin and Black Coral Capital…Accel Partners has invested $50 million in Tenable Network Security, a profitable 10-year-old company based in Columbia, Md., that aims to identify network gaps before attackers can exploit them. Tenable has been bootstrapped until now and counts one million users in 150 countries. Customers include leading energy, health care, technology and financial services companies and the entire Department of Defense…and Morgenthaler Ventures is leading a $17 million Series B round for secure doctor-communications network Doximity. The funding was joined by returning backers Emergence Capital Partners and InterWest Partners, firms that last year provided the company with a $10.8 million Series A round.

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Elsewhere around the Web:

Cash-strapped start-ups are once again offering professional-services providers such as lawyers and website designers equity stakes in the company instead of cash, a practice that was common during the dot-com bubble.

Long a staple topic at tech conferences,the connected home, where all electronic devices are wirelessly linked, is still largely a dream, the New York Times writes.

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